I tried for a few weeks to come up with an excuse to bake this cake, then finally threw caution to the wind, bought a ridiculous amount of maple syrup (1 1/2 cups, for the record, is a RIDICULOUS amount of maple syrup), and went for it.

I didn’t feel like making cakes (and I got my cupcake tin back, in case you were on the edge of your seat from my previous post), so cupcakes it was!

This recipe makes a great cake with a lot of maple flavor–1 1/2 cups of maple syrup will do that, I suppose (can you tell I’m completely flabbergasted that this recipe used ONE AND A HALF CUPS of maple syrup? because I am). I’m not keen on meringue frosting since I don’t like eggs, so I swapped that out for an incredible whipped cinnamon frosting from Sweetapolita, one of my favorite cake blogs.

The overall effect is basically a brunch cupcake. They taste exactly like pancakes with cinnamon butter. For that reason, I deeply believe these would be dynamite with bacon sprinkled on top. Sadly, I am currently a reluctant vegetarian, so alas, no bacon for me.

Happily, I ended up making these just in time for a friend’s birthday! It all comes full circle in this blog (recall: we began with “autumnal birthday cake”). Sometimes procrastinating on baker-blogging gets you places in the end, folks. That’s your lesson for today–now go bake these, put bacon on top, and have yourself a brunch snack.